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Kadohata, Cynthia (1956– )
Born in Chicago and raised in Arkansas, Georgia,
Michigan, and California, Cynthia Kadohata spent
much of her childhood on the road with her fam-
ily. Her career has also been a long odyssey. She
dropped out of high school, worked in depart-
ment stores and fast food restaurants, and even-
tually graduated from the University of Southern
California with a B.A. in journalism. Supporting
herself with temporary work, Kadohata embarked
on her writing career, and after a string of rejec-
tions, published short stories in The New Yorker in

1986. Despite her commitment to writing, Kado-
      hata found life on the road more attractive, so she
      attended but dropped out of graduate writing
      programs in both the University of Pittsburgh and
      Columbia University. In 1989, she published her
      first novel, The Floating World.
      Olivia, the 12-year-old narrator of The Floating
      World, tells of her family’s experiences as they travel
      from the Pacific Northwest to Arkansas in search of
      work and a place to call home in the 1950s. The
      phrase “floating world,” translated from ukiyo, a
      Japanese word referring to the feeling of insecurity,
      is associated with shuttling between gas stations
      and motels. However, Olivia sees the world not as
      just harsh but also magical and enchanting. Appro-
      priately, Kadohata’s prose reflects Olivia’s sensitiv-
      ity and imagination; her descriptions are at once
      blunt, sparse, comical, philosophical, and lyrical.

Kadohata’s work often features young female

protagonists who view the world as at once real

and surreal, as harsh and hopeful. Francie—the

19-year-old, orphaned, mixed-race narrator of In

the Heart of the Valley of Love—must survive in

Los Angeles in the year 2052, where the polluted

terrain is divided into “Richtown,” where affluent

whites have secluded themselves, and the slums

where the “have-nots” live in hunger and disease.

This second novel, with its futuristic setting, can be

categorized as science fiction; however, Kadohata

grounds the novel in her concerns with contem-

porary issues. It is no great coincidence that her

novel was published in the same year as the 1992

Los Angeles riots. In an interview with Publishers

Weekly, Kadohata remarks, “I guess I should have

set the book just three years ahead.”

This blending of the real and fictitious perhaps

allowed Kadohata to avoid being thrust into the

heated debates about self-representation in Asian-

American literary circles. Because Kadohata’s

characters reflect aspects of the author’s own life,

it is tempting to read them as “authentic” repre-

sentations of Kadohata’s experiences as a Japanese

American. However, Kadohata’s stories explore

universal themes and concerns, so they are not al-

ways considered ethnic-specific.

Kadohata is also the author of The Glass Moun-

tains, a fantasy novel about a young woman who

must travel beyond her village in search of her